The Data Expansion

Pt 9494 00 90 00 00 90 DO DE HF 00 00 DEUE 00 90 00 90.00 00 00 00 2454 OF OE HE 90 00 90 00 HE 00 0000 00 90 TE 54 90 90 00.00 DO G0 000 DE 90 9000 00 00 90 090 09 90 00 00 9299 —

ж THE DATA EXPANSION x
ж TIMEX/SINCLAIR USERS GROUP OF FORT UORTH, TEXAS ж
ж NEUSLETTER x
x VOL 3, NUMBER 10-OCT. 1986 ж
ы EDITOR: DAVID BAULCH ж-
XOOOOOOOOCCOOCIOOOODEOEEXOOOEOEOOOEXOOCOOOOOOOOOOEOOEXGOEXOEOUEXIOOECCEXGE -

NOTES FROM THE EDITOR
By Editor David Baulch

This has been an interesting past month. I have had а few
special phone calls and letters from people concerning the-
sub-board that we have on the Kaypro BBS. Ed Gray, the SYSOP of
the Timex sub-board on the YARBBS, was finally able to get on
line calling through Dallas using PC PURSUIT. I do not
understand all there is to knou about PC PURSUIT, but there is
an initial $25.00 start-up fee and it costs $25.00 a month
whether it is used or not. This long-distance service із
probably well worth the money for those who really use it.

Ed stated how glad he was to see the newest addition to the
Timex Telecommunication network. He was also pleased to see that
of the 32 programs on-line, many were ones he was not familiar
with. (Only in the Metroplex!) He was going to spread the word
to other users through his sub-board and the Electronic
Newsletter that he has on his sub-board.

There was also a caller from the Chicago area. It seems
that the Kaypro board with our sub-board may just be taking off.
It vould take off better if some of you would call in and place
more downloads on the board. The only thing necessary to remind
you of is that it only uses Xmodem protocol, not ASCII. I hope
that the BBS is visited often, that way we will make а real
contribution to our User Groups and everyone will benefit.
JXGOOOOOOOOOGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOEOOOOOOOOOOEOOOOOOOOOIOOOOOOOC OE Ten

TIMEX/SINCLAIR USERS GROUP OF FORT UORTH, TEXAS
SEPTEMBER MEETING NOTES

The meeting convined in MEETING ROOM "В" of the Fort Worth
Public Library at 300 Taylor Street in downtown Fort Worth. The
next meeting is scheduled for November 8, 1986 in MEETING ROOM-

ÞE DERE HE DE FE NEIE IE PE DE FE RE PE FE FE RE IE JE FE JE HEIE IE FEFE HEIE MEIE IE EIEI KE HEEK EEK KEK KEEKEEKE KERKE -
This newsletter is published monthly and is sent to all of- our
subscribers and to other user groups throughout the U.S.,
Canada, Mexico, and Europe. The Timex sub-board on the FWKUG

MBBS & PSDE Г8/1/М1 540-4183 will soon carry this newsletter,

and already carries 752068 downloads. The subscription rates are
$2.50 a month or $12.00 for six months. Anyone wishing to-
advertise, our rates are: $5.00 (minimum) for 1/4 page, $10.00
for 1/2 page, and $20.00 for а full page. Please send to? David
Baulch, 4424 Geddes Ave., Fort Worth, TX 76107.

PRESIDENT:GENE PICKENS VICE-PRESIDENT :FRANK BOULDIN
TREASURER: ELLIS SAUNDERS SECRETARY :CHUCK DAWSON
EDITOR: DAVID BAULCH PROGRAM EDITOR:CHUCK DAUSON

TECHNICAL EDITOR:FRANK BOULDIN CONTRIBUTORS:Chuck Dauson,

DATA z ExPans EON

"С". The meetings are on the second Saturday of each month from
1:00 Р.М. to 4:00 Р.М. The meetings are open to all who wish to
learn more about the Sinclair, Timex, and Amstrad computers.

The meeting was called to order by our president, Gene
Pickens. Even though only 10 members were present at this
meeting (a rather small group) and no one had any classes
prepared for this meeting (there was too much going on at work
to have time to prepare anything), there was a great deal of
talk, discussion, and information. Our first president, Tim
Ward, was back from Sicily, Italy and on his way to Washington
(the state) for his new Air Force base assignment. We all wish
him well considering all of the work he went through to get this
users group together.

Bob Burton has not done very much in the way of programming
this last month. He was in Colorado for some time and was not
going to be able to get to his computer. Doyle and Neta Harris
were there. Doyle had a new acquisition, a Commodore PLUS 4 and
a new GE Data Recorder. He is pleased with the recorder, but it
would not plug into the Commodore. He checked in Radio Shack,
but was unable to come up with the proper interface. He likes
his Commodore anyway. He likes the 4 programs that comes with
the PLUS 4 and knows that it was set up more for disk drives
than for tape. They do have a Datasette recorder for the Plus 4,
but he does not have it. But at $300 to $400 for the disk
drives, he thinks he will pass for the present. Neta has been
watching Doyle 'play' with his neu computer. Fred Stockton was
present and has been using his computer, but not for much
programming.

Charles Stelding has revised his SCREENS READER that was
mentioned last time so that the version he sent to me was the
improved one. (It was great to use it, I was able to get a great
deal of the documentation for certain programs that are а part
of the program into this wordprocessor and I nou have а
beautiful 'HARDCOPY' of them.) Once the improved version was
completed, he used his new TIMACHINE BASIC COMPILER, also
mentioned last time, to make it into machine code. It works
extremely well. He is also working on improving his REM
statement program. Since he teaches at Tyler Junior College and
this is taking up more and more of his time. He has been trying
to get the newspaper people in Tyler into trying to get оп to
StarText so that he can use it like we do. So far, no luck.
Charles said that they seem to still be in the age of using
moueable lead type.

Ellis has not been working with his computer as they are in
the process of putting all of their inventory at work on a
computer. Filling in numbers and using status sheets in
preparation to using the Packard-Bell system they haue is quite
time consuming. Ellis said he should bring his 1500 and the
Manufacturing Control software that he has and show them how
simple it is to set up such a program and run it. He says that
they are doing too much seemingly trying to fill. all available
memory. Of course, they will have three companies using the
system. I think that it would be a little difficult for three

Dé

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за 11
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ОАТА 3 EXPANSION

companies to all try and use the 1500, but you neuer knou.

Chuck Dauson said that his company was getting a Leading
Edge PC Clone. It is said to be even better than the опе that
"Big Blue" puts out, certainly it із faster. Не hinted that
anyone uho had access to any PC softuare, let him knou as he із
completely unfamiliar with the whole thing. (Knowing Chuck as- I
do, I really don’t think that situation vill last very long.)
All he knows is-that it is on its way, he has not seen it yet.
When asked about the way the TIMEXPRO programs for downloading
were numbered, he-ansuered that they were numbered however Һе
could. There was one two-parter that took up two program slots.
He had to dispose of both of them on one day as neither опе by
themselves would give any benefit to anyone. There із no real
order as to how..it is done, you need to access them every week
or so and check out what new ones are up.

Tim Ward, the past president was there. He was glad to be
back. He said that there were tuo Timex groups up іп Seattle
that he was going to check out and numerous BBS’s to check out,
too, since he nou has his modem. He has sent us a great deal of
programs for the 1000/1500. Не is still playing with his 2068.
He was stuck with no one that had one in Sicily. He did see some
Sinclair products and computers, a Spectrum *, at one of the
local stores. І%-маз priced at over $150.

Next at the round table discussion was myself. І told about
the progress of the BBS and had some newsletters rom other
groups to be looked at for those who were interested. I went
back over the information from Pete Fischer, in Arizona, about
the book to be. published about Timex Telecommunications. He
included some pages that were going to Бе in the "one-time only’
book. It still looks pretty impressive. I suggest that you keep
an eye out for it when it appears. I also told about the
messages that Ed grey talked about. This brought up some
questions about the PC PURSUIT that Ed used to get in touch with
our BBS through Dallas. Very interesting. It is a shame that
Fort Worth does not have this.

Mentioning my "trip?" down to Austin and visiting Jerry and
Til at AERCO brought about more discussion. They impressed me
with the ADDS VIEWPOINT terminal running CP/M in 80 columns. I
mentioned it again and many of the members seemed to be
impressed. The price of the system was called into question, but
it seems to be an exceptional system for the price. I think that
I will write to ZEBRA SYSTEMS and question them about their CP/M
unit for the 2068. (I don’t think I want to take a trip up that
far.) Poor Jerry has been working so hard on the system and
improving it that he has not even been able to sit down апа
"play" with the system. I commented on how many BBS’s there were
in Austin that could be contacted, but he just has not had the
time.

That vas about it. Frank Bouldin uas not able to attend. It
seems that during one of the last storms vue had a bolt of
lightening hit his HAM radio antenna and 'fried' almost all of
his equiptment. He із in the process of trying to piece things

OATA 4 EXPANSION

back together. If anyone has ever been over to Frank’s and seen
his 'uall-to-uall' equiptment set-up, you know how much he lost.
I hope most of it is repairable.

RRRKKKKK KKK KK KKK KKK KK KK KKH HA KK KKK KH KKK KKK KK KKK OO CX X XXX XXX

TIMEX TIPS
by Chuck Dawson

QUESTION: Can you explain the term RLE graphics?

ANSWER: R.L.E. stands for RUN LENGTH ENCODED graphics, which
probably does not tell you a lot. The idea is to take а screen
full of graphic information (usually 256 dots across by 196 dots
high) and turn the information into ASCII characters which сап
then be sent via modem to other computers. At the other end, the
ASCII characters are turned back into a visible screen which can
Бе SAVEd. This is not just a system for use with Timex-Sinclair
computers, but is in wide use with various makes. There are
several public domain programs that encode and decode the screen
information to and from RLE format. Most of the BASIC programs
will ignore the bottom tuo print lines since the PLOT command
will not work there. Machine code decoders can use the bottom
lines. If you would like to write your own program, here are the
basics: First, the encoding starts with capital GH to mark the
beginning of the file. Then, the encoding program starts at the
upper left corner of the screen and counts the number of black
dots that appear in a rou, counting to the right. Let’s зау
there are three black dots and then а white dot folloued by tuo
more black dots. Since ue are going to use ASCII characters for
our encoding (space thru copyright or CHR$ 32 thru 127), ме are
going to assign space with the value zero, exclaimation with the
value one, quotes with the value two, and so on down to
copyright with the value of 95. Therefore, our first encoded
character will be # because it has a value of three followed by
! because it is one and finally a ' because it represents tuo.
This counting of black dots and uhite dots continues across the
. Screen. Uhen the right edge of the screen is reached, drop to
the next line at the far left and keep counting. That is, five
black dots at the end of a line followed by three black dots at
the beginning of the next line would be encoded as an eight. If
we need a value of more than 95, (like if the whole top line is
black dots), then we encode 95 for black, zero for white, and
95 more for black and so on. The last character in the file is
not ASCII but is a CHR$ 7 (bell). A complicated picture may
easily take much more memory space than a SCREENS but keep іп
mind that this system із compatible with other makes of
computers and is easily transmitted via modem systems which only
accept ASCII characters. Examples of- encoded Pictures are
available from many BBSs and are usually named with the suffix
RLE (A picture of Brooke Shields might be named BROOKE.RLE). On
CompuServe you can GO PICS at any ! prompt. This method of
receiving and decoding graphics adds a whole neu dimension to
‘computing.

DE DEJE FE PE FE IE DE IE FE IE IE FE E PE IE IE IE FE FE PE PE FE IE FE FE HE FE FE E FE JE FE FE E IE JE DE FE JE FE FEIE JE JE JE E JE JE FE JE JE IE ME JE JE AE IKIE FE FE XF

AMSTRAD OFFERS LOW-COST PC CLONES FOR U.K.
i By Patrick Waurzyniak

AIMERA ce

£35Co025:7

0 AD - сэ —

DATA 3 EXPANSION

From InfoWorld Vol 8, Issue 38

WESTMINSTER, England - Amstrad Consumer Electronics Ple.
announced last week a line of low-cost IBM PC clones for the
British market.

The Brentwood, England, company’s long-awaited PC =.1512,-
available in eight configurations starting at about $614,.. is
based on Intel’s 8086 microprocessor running at 8 MHz and . comes
with several software packages.

The base model personal computer uith monochrome - monitor
includes a 5 1/4-inch, 360K floppy disk drive апа: 512K . of
memory, which can be upgraded to 640K without using an expansion
slot, according to the company.

Amstrad’s personal conputer offers ап array of -— bundled
software, including MS-DOS 3.2 and Digital Research Inc.’s
Concurrent DOS Plus, Graphics Environment Manager, GEM Desktop,
GEM Paint, and GEM Basic.

Amstrad also plans to market versions of Supercale 3 “and
Wordstar for about $107 each.

The computer is also available with color monitors - and
either dual-floppy or 10 and 20-megabyte hard disks. The
top-of-the-line color, 20-megabyte model; will sell for- about
$1,461. 7

Although the company has no set plans, Amstrad. is
considering bringing the PC 1512 to the United States, according
to spokesuoman Nicki Bedford-Davies. Amstrad xcurrently markets
and distributes а CP/M machine іп the United States through
Sears World Trade of Chicago.

Borland International of Scotts Valley, California, also
announced it had reached ап agreement with Amstrad for- the
British company to manufacture and market tuo popular Borland
software programs, Side-kick and Reflex the Analyst, іп ~ the
United Kingdom. The programs will bear the Amstrad label.

"It's not a bundling agreement," said Borland spokeswoman
Pam Dillehay. "With this OEM agreement, Amstrad is - going. to
manufacture, market, and promote these products throughout
Europe in its established dealer network. "

LI haue not seen the CP/M machines slated for Sears аз yet, but
I was over at Edisons which has their wordprocessing machine, It
is very impressive looking. Since I uas not in the market for
such a machine, as if I could afford it anyway, and the
salespeople are notorious about not knowing anything about most
of the things that they sell, I did not ask to try it оч%.1

DE 96 96 DE 96 96 IE IE 9 DE DE DE PE IE JE HE XXX XXE XXE PE FE FE JE JE FE IE JE JE JE JE DE JE JE IE JE JE FE JE JE JE IE FE IE F€ JE ME IE FE JE IE IE IE IEE IONE

N

DATA 6 EXPANSION

WORKING WITH THE 2Х81/751000 DISPLAY FILE (CONTINUED)
BY KEN ABRAMSON

60 PRINT АТ 21,0;'PRESS ENTER TO BEGIN DRAWING‘
70-ІМРОТ P$

7 160 PRINT AT Ү,Х;5%;
170 IF Z THEN PRINT AT Y,X3" ';
180 IF ІМКЕҮФ-“5“ AND X>0 THEN LET XzX-1
190 IF INKEY$-'8' AND X431 THEN LET X=X+1
200 IF INKEYS="6° AND Ү<21 THEN LET Y=Y+1
210 IF INKEY$-'?' AND Y>O THEN LET Ү-Ү-1
220 IF INKEY$="0° THEN LET Z=NOT Z
230 IF INKEY$="C° THEN GOTO 150
240 IF ІМКЕҮ%-"5“ THEN SAVE 'ZXDRAU'
250 IF INKEYS="Z° THEN COPY

- 260 IF INKEYS="M° THEN GOTO 40
270. GOTO 160

PROBLEM:

Can. more than one screen be drawn, stored, and saved

using

a single program? So far, our drawing program is capable of
saving the Display File directly from RAM. But the program can

only save one screenful in total, whether the computer is

72К. òr 16K of RAM.

using

Using 16K of RAM should permit the storage of several
screens if the contents of the Display File are dumped into a
|: different string variable array each time а screen із finished.
This process has a major disadvantage, since the poor old t/s
1000 takes a long time (about 15 seconds even in FAST MODE) to
dump the 726 byte Dispiay File into a string array, and just as
long a time to POKE the stored string characters back into the

Dispiay File in order to show a screen.

` The following program illustrates the use of a string array
fer storing a screen and regenerateing the screen from storage:

10 REM **ZXDRAWs* (T/S 10002ВҮ KEN ABRAMSON
20. REM THIS PROGRAM SHOWS HOW TO SAVE THE DISPLAY FILE

IN A

STRING ARRAY (LINES 400 TO 450) AND HOW TO POKE THE STRING

CHARACTERS BACK INTO THE DISPLAY FILE OR SCREEN -MEMORY
540 TO 590).

"30.LET D$=°"

-40 LET S$z'x'

50 SLOU

60 CLS ў

70 PRINT,,,,TAB 10; 2ХОКАШ MENU',TAB 10; 'seeeeieeeex , , ТАВ
NEU DRAWING’,,TAB 2; "2. CONTINUE ПКАМІМб",,,ТАВ 2; "3.

(LINES

2:71:
СОРҮ

e — т

MO UL I ON O He fees

—À—

wo FE

XXX -

f:

ut)
and

onds

DATA 7 EXPANSION

DRAWING ONTO SCREEN',,,TAB 2;'4. COPY DRAWING TO РБІМТЕБВ",,,ТАВ
2;'5. SAVE SCREEN ТО TAPE’

80 IF INKEY$="1" THEN GOTO 170

90 LET СФ-іІМКЕҮ%

100 IF INKEY$-'2' THEN GOTO 530

110 LET CS=INKEYS

120 IF INKEY$-'3' THEN GOTO 530

130 LET CS=INKEYS

140 IF ІМКЕҮ%-"4“ THEN GOTO 530

150 IF INKEY$="5° THEN GOTO 480

160 GOTO 80

170 CLS

180 PRINT TAB 10;'CONTROL KEYS',TAB 7; ‘============",'S -MOVES
CURSOR (ЕҒТ",,,"6 -MOVES CURSOR 0DOUN',,,.'7 -MOVES CURSOR
UP*,,,°8 -MOVES CURSOR RIGHT',,,'0 -DRAU ( CURSOR NOT
FLASHING)',' -ERASE (CURSOR FLASHING)',,,'C -CHANGE DRAWING
CHARACTER*,,,'M -MAIN MENU*,,'(SAVES SCREEN TO RAM FIRSTO',,,'€

-SAVE SCREEN DIRECTLY TO ТАРЕ"

190 PRINT AT 21,0;'PRESS ENTER TO BEGIN DRAWING"
200 INPUT P$

210 SLOU

220 CLS

230 LET 7-0

240 LET X215

250 LET Y=10

269 GOTO 280

270 INPUT 5%

280 PRINT АТ Ү,Х;5%;

290 IF Z THEN PRINT AT Y,X;' ';

300 IF INKEYS="5" AND Х20 THEN LET X-X-1
310 IF INKEY$-2'8' AND X«31 THEN LET X=X+1
320 IF INKEY$="6" AND Y<21 THEN LET Ү=ү+1
330 IF INKEYS$-'?' AND Y>O THEN LET Y=Y-1
340 IF INKEY$="0° THEN LET Z=NOT 2

350 IF INKEY$="C* THEN GOTO 270

360 LET 1%-ІМКЕҮ% i

370 IF ІМКЕҮ%-"5“ THEN GOTO 400

380 IF INKEY$-'M' THEN GOTO 400

390 GOTO 280

400 FAST

410 DIM D$(?26)

420 LET D-PEEK 16396%256жРЕЕК 16397

430 FOR Ғ-1 TO 726

440 LET D$CF)-CHR$ PEEK (D+F)

450 NEXT F

460 IF 1%-"5" THEN GOTO 500

470 GOTO 50

480 IF D$z'' THEN GOTO 670

490 CLS

500 PRINT АТ 21,0;'UHEN TAPE IS READY, PRESS ENTER‘
510 INPUT P$

520 SAVE 'ZXDRAU'(CU IS INVERSE)

530 IF D$="* THEN GOTO 670

540 FAST

550 CLS <

560 LET D=PEEK 16396%256жРЕЕК 16397

570 FOR F=1 TO 726

DATA | 8 EXPANSION

580 POKE D+F,CODE D$(F)

590 NEXT F

600 SLOW

610 IF С%-“3“ THEN GOTO 720

620 IF С%=°4" THEN COPY

630 IF C$-'2' THEN GOTO 280

640 FOR P-1 TO 150

650 NEXT P

660 GOTO 50

670 CLS

680 PRINT AT 10,7;'USE MENU CHOICE 1."
690 FOR P-1 TO 30

700 NEXT P

710 GOTO 50

720 PRINT АТ 21,0;'PRESS ENTER FOR MENU‘
730 INPUT P$

740 GOTO 50

Line 410 sets aside 726 bytes іп which to store the
contents of the Display file (22 lines * 32 columns * 22 slots
for ENTER characters needed at the end of each line).

Line 420 calculates the address of the beginning of the
Display File.

Lines 430 to 450 store each byte of the Display File іп
correct order in the string array d$. Other drauings could be
stored in other string arrays, e.g. A$, BS, C$, etc.

To get the drawing from the string array back жо the
Screen, each byte must be POKED back into the Display File.

Line 560 again locates the address of the beginning of the
Display File (which moves around).

Lines 570 to 590 POKE each byte from the string array, D$,
into each successive address in the Display File. Again, Бу
accessing stored information from other string arrays, other
screens may be generated.

The above program may be expanded to store at least ten
screens. You may like to try your hand at this yourself, or a
ten screen version will soon be found in some software library.
HHH HH HH HH HAH HHH MAH HK HK HLHHK KKH RAK X X X X X XXX €xyXkXxGxvXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxSXxxXxXxXxXXXXXxXxx

CARTRIDGE COPY
FROM FD-68 USER

The hardware modification for copying cartridges to disc is
now available from AERCO. You can make the mods yourself as
shown іп the illustration (hich cannot be done here, but it is
very clear), or for $15 AERCO will send you the addembled chip
and switch and all you have to do is install it. Once the
hardware change has been made, proceed аз follows:

1) Turn off the computer
2) Slide the suitch to the UP position

DA

S ION

CHE

DATA | 9 EXPANSION

3) Insert the cartridge you wish to copy

4) Turn the system back on and MOVE "'name.aro',
9) Turn off the system -

6) Remoue the cartridge -

7) Slide the switch to the DOWN position

8) Turn on the computer and CAT "пате. аго",

The program vill load and run. I have the hardware change -
on my interface and it works well, to a point. After some trial
and error, I found that I couldn’t copy all of the cartridges I
had. The only ones.I could copy successfully were Androids апа
Crazybugs. I couldn't get Flight Simulator, States and Capitols,:
Pinball, or Home Budgetter to сору. А talk with Jerry at AERCO
cleared up the matter. It seems that when the .ARO extension is-
called in its’ present form, it only copies 16384 bytes, 32768
to 49152, chunks 4 & 5 of the dock bank. Evidently the other
programs are longer than that. Jerry said that a change іп the
EPROM code, would read the header from the cartridge, and save
the number of bytes accordingly.

This hardware modification will not copy an LROS cartridge
such as OS-64. The-.ARO extension only copies from 32768 to
49152. An LROS (language oriented softuare) program resides at
memory addresses 0-32768.

BOOT
. By Chia-Chi Chao

Here is a boot program that I use оп all of пу discs.
Loading programs is as simple as touching a feu keys. No more
typing errors to worry about. I think you will like it. Type it-
іп and have at it-

1 REM Disk Auto-boot Loader Written by Chia-Chi Chao 7

10 BORDER 0: PAPER 0: INK 7: CLS: OVER 1: LET xz0: LET y-5: (ЕТ

2=0: LET a=x: LET b=y: LET c=z

20 OUT 244,1: CAT '',: PRINT #1; OVER 0; PAPER 2;'5-8 Select

File 9-0 Command‘

30 PRINT AT у,х; INVERSE 1;° "3; INVERSE О;АТ

21,0; OVER 0; ‘Run Load Catalog Basic': PRINT AT 21,2;

INVERSE 13° an

40 LET a$zINKEY$: IF a$z'' THEN-GO TO 40

50 IF a$2'8* AND х=0 THEN LET x=16

60 IF a$z'5' AND x=16 THEN LET х-0

70 IF a$z'6* AND у<20 THEN LET у=у+1

80 IF a$="7" AND y>5 THEN LET y=y-1

90 IF a<>x OR b<>y THEN PRINT АТ y»x$ INVERSE 1;° “ЗАТ

Ь,а; " ': LET a=x: LET b=y: GO TO 40

100 IF аФ-"0" AND z«24 THEN LET z=z+8

110 IF as="9" AND 220 THEN LET z=2-8

120 IF z<>c THEN PRINT АТ 21,2; INVERSE 1;* "ЗАТ 21,c;"'
| ": LET c=z: GO TO 40

130 IF CODE a$<>13 THEN GO TO 40

140 IF 2-16 THEN RUN

145 IF z-24 THEN OVER 0: STOP

150 LET аФш"!"

DATA 10 EXPANSION

150 FOR 1=х+14 TO х+5 STEP -1: IF SCREENS (y,1)<>* ' THEN GO TO
170 NEXT 1: BEEP .3,24: GO TO 40

180 OVER 0: FOR m=x+1 TO 1: LET а%-аФ%5СКЕЕМ% (y,m): NEXT m

190 IF a$(LEN а%-2 TO)="BAS* AND 2-8 THEN LET a$=a$+",10000°

200 IF 2<=8 THEN САТ 'a$',

9998 STOP

9999 MOVE 'BOOT.BAS',10
ӘЗ ЖӨЖ TE DE HEHE ИХ ӘЖ Ж ЖЖЖ

FROM THE EDITOR'S MAILBOX
From the FUKUG MBBS & PSDE

1 thought that some of you might find these names familiar.
These are some of the letters that I have recieved on the FWKUG
MBBS & PSDE. These people are some of the movers in other parts

of the US. Thanks to them for taking time and trying out the

Timex section on the board. Also thanks to them for spreading

the word about the BBS. Since they are impressed with what we

have so far, let's see if we can get some more programs on the

board and let them know what kinds of programmers ше have here
in Texas and the Metroplex.

LJLJL3JEJEJEJE3E 3

Мзо%: 130 Date: 09/09/86
From:. GARY LESSENBERRY
То: ALL

“Ре: TIMEX USER SEARCH

Hi, I’m a Timex/Sinclair user from Chicago. I’m searching for
other Timex users in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. I did notice
that the sysop here had established a Timex file area. It
appears as if somebody has been providing quite a few uploads to
it also. Does anybody know of any other BBSs in your area that
support the efforts of Timex/Sinclair users? If so, please drop
some mail to me! Thanks!

Enter Reply? (Y/N) <МО?

“No

Mso#: 150 Date: 09/11/86

From: SYSOP (Private)
"Tos DAVID BAULCH
Re: STUFF

Yes,. ue had a Timex caller. He asked what files he could
download here after logging on for the first time. There із по
need to check up to see if a caller is real or whatever. There
is about 25 to 30 meg of CP/M, about 10 of MSDOS on the board
right nou. I hope to add about 20 more meg of HD in the next few
weeks (Will give about 60 meg total) most will be for MSDOS as
that seems to be the biggest need. Yes, my phone can be called
from Dallas (540 ) is a metro number.

OK to KILL msg * 1507 (Y/N) <N)?
No

ANE

—

FEARN). pa

PN

rdc

ANS ION
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torise

ty of-
es to.

isting
short,

| the
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fa

DATA 11 EXPANSION

Enter Reply? (Y/N) «XN»?
No

Мзо#: 154 Date: 09/12/86
From:. ED GREY

To: DAVID BAULCH

Re: I MADE IT!

Hello David, by now I assume that you have received my card ir
the mail. I had tried and tried to access this BBS via Pf
Pursuit and I wasn’t able to do it until now. I am glad to. see
this BBS with a Timex area in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. Time:
boards are to few and far between. You are welcome to any of th:
files on my 'Original' Time<x>Change sub-board on YARBBS (213
325-0213 and if there is anything that I can do to help make
success of this Timex area, let me know. I will, for now, sprea
the word and hopefully generate some users for the Time:
section. I will call as often as I can get in. Is this BBS
really super-busy or was it just a fluke that I couldn't get іг
during the last 3 or 4 days? Take care. Ed Grey

OK to KILL msg # 154? (Y/N)XN??
Enter Reply? (Y/N) XN»?

Msgit: 155 Date: 09/12/86
From: ED GREY

To: DAVID BAULCH

Res FILES AREA

I looked over the files area and saw some stuff that І Һасп”-
seen elsewhere. Are all of the existing files uploaded witt
Mterm II HEX Conversion? Do you want Xmodem uploads? If thes
are ascii hex uploads, hou do you operate the ascii loader (ог
am I missing something)? Take care. Ed Grey

OK to KILL msg # 155? (Y/N) XN»?
No

Enter Reply? (Y/N) «XN»?

No

Msg#: 161 Date: 09/12/86

From: STEVE ISHII (Private)
То: DAVID BAULCH
Re: HELLO

Hello David. I've dropped in after reading your message on- th.
Time<x>Exchange BBS іп Los Angeles (which I am a regula
visitor). Keep up the good work. This board looks very good а
I also have а vested interest in MS-DOS systems, CP/M аз well
Talk with уа later....<Steve>

OK to KILL msg % 1617 (Y/N) XN»?

No
Enter Reply? (Y/N) XN»?
No “

DATA 12 EXPANSION

Мзо%: 170 Date: 09/13/86
From: GARY LESSENBERRY

To: DAVID BAULCH

Re: TS BBS

Thanks for the information David. I have been trying to maintain
a list of the nation-wide BBSs that have Timex/Sinclair suboards
and/or file areas. This list is available from the Nite 001
Special BBS (3122459-5721 in Chicago. І update it on а monthly
basis or try to anyway. All of our files are accessible via
Xmodem transfer only. As you know, there are three terminal
programs with Xmodem available for the 1715-2068 which are
Zterm-64, Specterm-64 and Loader V. For the TS-1000 there is the
mini-Xmod. I will mail you our current BBS list this weekend for
you to distribute with your fellow Timexer’s down there.

OK to KILL msg % 1707 (Y/N) «XN»?
No
Enter Reply? (Y/N) «МО?

No
KHKHHKHK KKH HHH HH HHH HHH HH HH HHH HH HH HHH HHH HK HHH HK HHI IIE HEHEHE NEE IE HEHEHE NH IE HE

SHORT CUTS FROM ENGLAND
From ZX COMPUTING MONTHLY

FADE OUT

M. Waters of Slough sent us the first program, a great way of
clearing the screen in games, it really gives that professional
touch to your programs. :

It works by removing pixels to give a dissolve effect and
uses a 50 byte machine code routine. As it is printed here, it
is.loaded to address 30000 so that both 16K and 48K owners can
use it. To relocate it higher in memory and make it more
practical for 48K users, just change the "30000 to 30049" to the
address of your choice (i.e. 60000 to 60049) and call it with
RANDOMIZE USR your address.

10 RESTORE: FOR N=30000 TO 30049

20 READ A: POKE N,A: NEXT N

30 FOR М-0 TO 21: PRINT '12345678901234567890123456789012': NEXT
N

40 RANDOMIZE USR 30000

50 DATA 17,254,8,123,7,7,7,95,33,0,64,1,24,0,126,163,119,35,16,
250,13,32,247,21,32,233,58,141,92,119,84,93,19,1,192,2,237,176,
58,72,92,119,14,63,237,176,201,0,0,0

SCRAMBLER
One for the newcomers sent іп by Niclas Carlenius of Sweden із
a version of the ever popular scrolling games. Notice that use

of USR 3582 to scroll the screen one line.

То adapt the program to your own taste should not be that
difficult a task for ‘even the least experienced, and to adjust

oh

4

«0000 OUR ФФ

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12

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(SION =

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ааз =
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thy ~
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" аге =
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CX OE

DATA 13 EXPANSION

th speed of the game vary the number 20 in line 150 and you can
adjust the road- width by modifying the number of spaces in line

The aim of the game is to drive as long as possible alone
the road аз it scrolls towards you using keys 5 and 8 to = move
left and right, Niclas tells us his highest distance/score is
1900.

1 REM SCRAMBLER

10 FOR А=0 TO 10: PRINT AT A,12;'** ++°:s NEXT A
20.LET М-0: LET A=13: LET B=15

70 LET R=INT (RNDX*4)*1

80 LET A=A+(R>2.5 AND A<26)-(R<2.5 AND A50)

90 PRINT AT 10,A-13°++ ++"

100 LET Z=USR 3582

110 LET M=M+1

120 LET B=B+( INKEYS="8° )-( INKEY$='5")

130 IF SCREEN$(O,B)-'*' THEN GO TO 170

140 PRINT AT 0,В; “Ү“ҘАТ 1,B;

150 60 TO 70

170 CLS: PRINT " YOU TRAVELLED “М; MILES';AT 3,0; FLASH
1;'PRESS ANY KEY TO START AGAIN"

180 FOR Х-1 TO 300: NEXT X: PAUSE 0: RUN

HACKER BASHER

One of our most frequent requests is for ways of making .your
programs hacker proof (personally I feel pleased that anybody
would want to see hou I wrote a program). I.J. Rogers has. sent
us-the method he uses.

One method is to make a program unmergeable and this can be
done by POKING the line length of the first line in the progran
with 255. When the program is saved and someone tries- to. MERGE
it, the compurer thinks it hasn't enough memory апа refusestc
accept it!

Due to the way in which Sinclair BASIC is stored you have
to add a little more to your program than а simple POKE, but
this isn't a lot and it is very easy. The secret is to . include
the -following lines:

1 РОКЕ 23758,0: GO TO 5
5 main program starts here
9999 POKE 23758,255: SAVE "PROGRAM" LINE 1

SAVE your program by using the instruction GO TO 9999 and verify
it with VERIFY "” as per usual. Nou NEU your computer and try tc
MERGE the program. Mind you it is not much use on its oun as суок
can still load it and BREAK the program to list it. To make it
completely foolproof you vill haue to use one of the POKEs «ҺісР
cause a crash if anyone tries to break it as the first line of
your program. i.e. 5 POKE 65364,0: POKE 65365,0

And, just to make life really difficult, you may have tc

use а bit of extra code to find the start of the BASIC line if

/

DATA l 14 EXPANSION

you have a disk unit attached.
MATHS MAD

l There is a great deal of interest in mathematical functions
in computing and W.E. Thomson sent us this routine to factorise
numbers (math students everywhere thke note!).

There is a time delay which depends on the complexity of
the number, the prime 4294967291 will take around 8 minutes to
check, most other numbers far less!

ое Note the use of the subroutine at 300, it prints all the
digits of a nime or ten character integer unlike the built іп
PRINT command uhich rounds off at 9 digits.

10 REM FACTORISE

20 DATA 2,1,2,2,4

30 DATA 2,4,2,4,6,2,6,4,2,4,6,6,2,6,4,2,6,4,6,8,4,2,4,2,4,8,6,4
,6.2,4,6,2,6,6,4,2,4,6,2,6,4,2,6,4,10,2,10

40 RESTORE 20

50 INPUT ‘INPUT A МОМВЕК< -4294967296: "N
60 GO SUB 300

70 LET F=0: LET D=0

80 FOR B=0 TO 52: READ Z: LET D-D*Z

100 LET Q=N/D: IF Q<D THEN GO TO 200

110 IF Q=INT Q THEN PRINT "-" AND NOT F;D;'x';: LET F=1: LET
N-Q: GO TO 100 (
120 NEXT В

130 RESTORE 30: LET В=4: NEXT B

200 IF NOT Е THEN PRINT ' IS PRINE';

210 IF F THEN GO SUB 300

220 PRINT: GO TO 40

300 LET H=INT (N/1e5)

310 IF NOT H THEN PRINT N;: RETURN

320 PRINT H;(STR$ (М-1е5ж(Н-1222(2 TO );: RETURN

A TRIO OF CHARACTERS

Ben Stagnell, 13, of Radway, sent us three variations of a
program to create new character sets.

Now I don’t know about you, but I never bothered to alter
my chars in program because the effort of either typing in at
least 52x8 sets of data to individually create a new char. set
or to modify each letter using a char. definer program was just
too time consuming.

Ben’s program cleverly make modifications to the existing
set after copying them to ROM. This makes each variation short,
fast, and easy to use.

All 96 characters are modified and once you type in the
program, run it and save it when instructed, you are ready to
go. To see the effect, type POKE 23606,0: РОКЕ 23607,117 and all
printing to the screen will be in that font.

SION
ө

жж

DATA 15 | EXPANSION

Now, as it stands, the code of each neu character- set ~ is
located at 30208 which does not give a lot of room for anythinc
else, however, the code can be loaded into any area of memory as
long as you follou the next instructions:

1. CLEAR to the address one less than the code vil! be -loaded tE
i.e. to load it to 64000, CLEAR 63999

2. Туре or include аз a program instruction LOAD ''CODE- . address
i.e. LOAD *'CODE 64000

3. Play the tape uith the program code on it.

4. Type or include as program lines POKE 23606, address-256xINT
(address/256): POKE 23607, INT (address/256) i.e. 'address'
would be replaced by 64000 for the general usefulness - of these
routines. PEE

5 REM
10 REM ж DOUBLE THICKNESS x
20 REM
30 FOR N-30000 TO 30029: READ А: POKE М,А: NEXT М
40 DATA 33,0,61,17,0,118,1,0,3,237,176, 33, 0,118,17,0,3, 126, for
203,63,177,119,35, 275 122,179, 200, 24,243
30 RANDOMIZE USR 30000
60 INPUT "МАМЕ TO SAVE >) ';LINE N$
70 CLS: PRINT “SAVING :" ; №
80 SAVE N$CODE 30208, 768
90 PRINT'''REUIND TAPE TO VERIFY"
100 VERIFY N$CODE
110 BEEP .1,10: PRINT 'SAVE COMPLETE"
120 NEU

5 REM
10 REM ж ITALICS ж
20 КЕМ
30 FOR N-30000 TO 30041: READ А: РОКЕ N,A: NEXT М І
40 DATA 33,0,61,17,0,118,1,0,3,237,176,33,0,118,14,96,6,2, 126,
203,63,203,63, 119, 35,16,247,6,4,126,203,63, 119, 35,16,249, 35. 35,
13,200,24,230
50 RANDOMIZE USR 30000
60 INPUT "NAME TO SAVE >) ';LINE N$
20 CLS: PRINT “SAVING :';N$
80 SAVE N$CODE 30208,768
90 PRINT'''REUIND TAPE TO VERIFY"
100 VERIFY N$CODE
110 BEEP .1,10: PRINT 'SAVE COMPLETE"
120 NEU

КЕР Е >

5 REM
10 REM ж FUTURISTIC x
20 REM "
30 FOR М-30000 TO 30035: READ A: РОКЕ N,A: NEXT М
40 DATA 33,0,61,17,0,118,1,0,3,237,176,33,0,118,6,96,197,35,35 -
35,35,6,4, 126, 79, 203,63, 177, 119,35,16,247,193,16, 237; 201
50 RANDOMIZE USR 30000
60 INPUT “МАМЕ TO SAVE >) ';LINE N$
70 CLS: PRINT "SAVING :';N$
80 SAVE NSCODE 30208,768
90 PRINT'''REUIND TAPE TO VERIFY’

DATA | 16 EXPANSION

100 VERIFY N$CODE

110 BEEP .1,10: PRINT "SAVE COMPLETE’

120 NEW

RRR RAKE EEK KKK KALE EERE KALE KELL HAE IEA AISA

DISCUSSION ON COMPUTERS
By David Baulch and various other computer people

A friend of mine and I recently entered into a discussion
about computers, the new and the old. He was trying to convince
me that the way to go uas to purchase a new 16-bit or 32-bit
machines. According to him:

"Any computer із a valuable tool-at least until that
inevitable day when it quietly and inexplicably (or dramatically
during a power surge) stops working. If you have a

computer-uhateuer the brand-then fantastic. My comments are
about those uho might be holding on to the older technology
because of a fear of the neuer machines. For these people, I am
just trying to зау ‘take a closer look, the new machines and not
that different from what you already are using’.’

I was partially in agreement with him. With all of the neu
computers coming out, the neu chips, the larger RAM, the new
languages, and the new periphrals, there is so much that can
make you very much 'afraid'. But the cost is also part of the
reason for that 'fear' he talked about. How many people can
afford to go out and purchase the neuest model computer that is
on the market today? I still have very fond feelings for the
'old' 8-bit computers and the 'dead?"' CP/M.

Eight bit computers will be around for years to come! Today
there are millions of 4 bit chips working everyday doing things
for you in your automobile, micro-wave ovens апа hundreds of
other places. Eight bit computers 'old'? YES. Eight bit
computers gone? NEVER. They will still be around for, at the
very least, 20 more years. They do a good job for most people,
who really needs the extra speed in the home? NO ONE. In
factories, large offices and maybe some other places, the
fastest speed is needed, but for most people, again І say 8 bits
will do the job just fine. І

It is а sad bit of commentary how technological
improvements in the field of computers inadvertantly forces the
wonders of yesterday to the scrap heap. 8-bit computers are the
only way to go, at least to my way of thinking. I still
ferverently believe that the wonders of yesterday are also the
wonders of tomorrou. The expansion is there for anyone uho needs
it, and the softuare base must be gigantic by nou. People are
still using the old software that ran on 8-bit machines, and, if
it does the job uell, uhy bother it?

Yes, the graphics have improved tremendously, but there are
many people who would bypass the neu improved graphics version,
just to be with something more familiar and comfortable . -
something that can be relied upon - an ‘old family friend'. They
may be archaic to some, but they are 'solid-gold' to many

the -
lots=

DATA 17 EXPANSION

others.

The question of hou many bits a computer uses is a useless
point. Yes, you can get "а bit more speed’ the more bits you
use. Things like clock speed have a much more profound affect,
more options or tools to work with in programming. What I mean
is... if you have better sound, graphics, disk speed, speech,
IZO ports, etc., you have a computer better able to accomplish
most any task. А machine with S8-bits takes less -chips-»to
constitute memory (most all base memory оп 8-bits is- standard),
yet most 16 bit machines also haue the tools onboard %о: make
program code smaller. So you vill most likely Бе. talking. this
same way in the next feu years about 16, 32, and 64-bit
machines.

The human brain, the greatest and fastest computer of - them
all, is the one thing that keeps the computers changing, but it
is also what keeps the old computers advancing more and more; |I
would trust my old 8-bit Z-80 much more to handle what I want,
than one of the newer models, and for the very reason that I
stated. If it isn’t broke-don’t fix it. Newer or newest із ~ пої
necessarily better or best. If you are comfortable and it will
accomplish the specified task, why change?

My point in all this is to say that a Timex/ZX81 with the
software to accomplish what I want is infinitly more useful than
а VAX with a satelite orbital algorithm. Yet, there are- some
computers out there that have superior tools to do the things ue
want to do. One should not have the mind set that if- 1. buy
another computer I must sell the one I have. If it is serving .a
useful purpose and that purpose cannot be accomplished more
easily on your new one (considering all the neu things you will
be using it for) then you should use that old computer. You have
just increased you entire computing power Бу adding your new
one.

I use а TIMEX 2068, abandoned by the company over 2-1/2
years ago, but still going strong. I even bring out my old 1000
with the "huge" memory of 16K every now and then. Religate- it
the junk pile or use it as a door-stop, NEVER! Like I said,. you
don't do that to old family friends.

An old computer always has a use. In a family the- old
machine can be passed on to another family member. A - different
computer in every room may sound strange, but it: is useful.
Though, the latest machine may be the best of the lot, an older
still functional computer set up in the kid’s room vill see more
use than the newer model that must be shared by other family
members. However, those 'original' computers that I learned on
are still quite useful and I doubt that I will ever give them
up. I still use them all for various and sundry purposes. I
would certainly like to get mv 'hands' оп опе of- the newer
models, just to have the RAM, but other than that. I choose te
stay with what i can effectively and efficiently use.
ЖЕЖ КҰЖЖ AEH HHH ХХ ЖҰ Ж EE EE ааа асе

MEMSCAN

DATA | 18 EXPANSION

By Russel English

CThis program is taken from the June 1986 edition of TIMELINEZ
- the joint newsletter of the three Timex/Sinclair User Groups
in the San Francisco Bay area: EBZUG, PUG, SVSTUG.J

This is a short machine code routine that displays a memory
map of the computer. It is 2068 specific, but can easily be
altered for the Spectrum with tuo POKEs.

It works by scanning every other address, checking for
zeros. If something other than a zero is found, it assumes that
the address is being used and a point is plotted on the screen.

It is relocatable, called up with RANDOMIZE USR n, where n
is the first address; overwrites the screen,i.e. it does МОТ
clear the screen first; does not scan the last few bytes of
memory; ignores the external ROM; із interactive with the
display file(s).

To scan every byte in the first half —-of memory, POKE
65519,0. To scan every byte in the second hald of memory, POKE
65502,128: POKE 65519,0. For SPECTRUM, POKE 65515,229: POKE
65516,34. зоя

„А title can be added to.a .display . with: PRINT АТ
1,10:'name'. The display may be compared=to the memory map on
р. 254 of the 2068 User Manual. 4 :

10 FOR Х-65500 TO 65533
20 READ Y: POKE X,Y

30 NEXT X

40 DATA 33,0,0,14,1

50 DATA 6,27,62,0,197

é0 DATA 299,190,40,3,205
70 DATA 62,38,225,35,35 А
80 DATA 193,4,62,156,184 LIES
100 DATA 185,32,228,201 а.
105 RANDOMIZE USR 65500 К
115 STOP Las
120 SAVE 'MEMSCAN'CODE 65500,34

SPECTRUM POKES: the 205 in line 60 should-be. 229, and the 65 in
line 70 should be 34. The should read?” >-

60 DATA 229,190,40,3,229
70 DATA 34,38,225,35,35
HENIE JE JE M DE E DE ME FE DE JE FE JE IE FE FE IE DE IE IE FE DE E FE JE DE JE DE FE NE IE FE JE JE JE DE JE JE JEJE JE IE JE JE JE IE JE E E IE IE JE IE IE JE FE FE EE

PROGRAM READER-
From ZX-Appeal Sept.i86

Have you at one time or another forgotten the name of a
particular 1000 program but didn’t want to wait the 10 minutes
to see what it was? Help is at hand! This routine will read and
print the name the program was saved under, all in a few seconds

ЕЕ ————— RS | Om C Оњ н нь eh geh PPP 40 OO № C3 C.

(SION

Sina,

can
sing

eral
о а
Һесі е
t/s
to

|^ as
the

rray
gei

ма
RING
INES

DATA 19 EXPANSION

and without affecting the saved program.

Туре in the program, remembering the 75 character - REM
statement. Run the program. After running the Program, delete
lines 10 to 70 and add line 10 RANDOMIZE USR 16514.

To use the routine just run the program and start the - tape
recorder. А feu seconds after the program load pattern appears,
the program will stop with the program name on the screen.

This would be a good routine to keep in the 8K NVM." When
typing in the program just change line 20 to whatever address-in
the 8-16K area you мізҺ to use. Then NEU the machine >and -call
the routine whenever you like by simply RANDOMIZE USR X, X being
whatever address you chose for X in line 20. Ta

1 REM SET UP REM STATEMENT WITH AT LEAST 75 SPACES. Rye
10 LET A$-'CD230FCD8A4018FB0E0106003E7FDBFED3FF1FD2A20317173811
10F 1F 1CD8A40CB7A792001D071730F 41810051E94061A10DBFE17CB7B7B38F51
0Ғ5012004ҒЕ5630С8ЗҒСВ1130С3С9С98"

20 LET X-16514

30 IF AS="S* THEN STOP

40 POKE X,16xCODE AS+CODE А%(2)-476
50 LET X=X+1

55 PASC ТО 2);° ';

60 LET А%-А6(3 TO )

70 GOTO 30

CB 7А (9 20 01 D? 17 30 x =

C9
3 CE XC IE JE JE EXE XE EXE EXE XE EXE HH HHH JE € € HHH € E EXE € E XE EXE E X EXC E XC XE EXC € E XE EXE E E E EXE EXC E CK

INTERRUPTS
By Lloyd Dreger
From August 86 SMUG BYTES EE

А discussion of ‘interrupts was a bit too advanced a subject
to cover in detail in my book ‘Introduction to 2068 Machine
Code," since the beginning student has enough other things > to
learn, so here is a shert discussion of them.

There are two kinds of interrupts available for. the ~ 280
CPU, the maskable (MI) ‘and nonmaskable (NMI) interrupts.

As the name implies, the maskable interrupt can be - masked,
which is another word for defeated. Machine code students vill
remember the disable interrupt (DI) and its opposite, the enable
interrupt (EI). These commands only work on the- maskable
interrupt. Since а maskable interrupt comes along every 1/60th

DATA 20 EXPANSION

of a second, the Sinclair computers use this signal to refresh
the screen. In addition, the 2068 also uses this signal to check
the keyboard for an input. The ZX81/1000 computers have а SLOW
(refresh the screen) mode and a FAST (don’t bother with the
screen)mode, which obviously are but little more than enabling
or disabling the maskable interrupt. Certain machine code
routines, such as data or code transfers; must be done without
an interrupt until finished. Forgetting to do an EI before
coming out of code back to BASIC results in a dead keyboard,
which is equivalent to a crash.

HALT is another instruction which requires an interrupt to
start the computer again. It works with either type of
interrupt. However, since the MI can be disabled with the DI
statement, the 1/60th second delay may not work on many
programs. The NMI, on the other hand, always gets through.
However, a word of caution is in order so read on.

What really happens with a MI is that all the registers are
saved and the machine jumps to address 56 (38H) and follows the
instructions given there. When a return із encountered, the
registers are all restored as the machine goes back to working
on whatever it was doing before the interrupt occurred.

The NMI is a hardware or peripheral interrupt. А line
inside the computer called NMI normally has 5 volts on it. If
for any reason it temporarily goes lou, like being grounded, a
NMI has occurred. The registers are again all saved along with
the status of the MI as the machine jumps to address 102 (66H).
On the ZX81/1000 machine it checks for SLOW and continues
without any provision for adding another ММІ routine. Оп the
2068, we have a problem as it checks for an address іп the
system variable located at address 23728-23729. If you check
your 2068 Users Manual, you will find that these addresses are
not used. This is due to a bug in the next instruction іп the
ROM (uhether this bug is deliberate or not is open to some
debate). The instruction in effect reads 'jump to the address
only if it is 0000," effectively doing a wipeout or restart. If,
for some reason, you poked something into this address, the NMI
is ignored and a return to the program is made.

This is NOT the way an NMI should work. The errant
instruction at address 109 should be JR Z, not JR NZ. This
change would cause the computer to return immediately if the NMI
interrupt address at 23728/9 was 0000 or jump to the address
contained there and handle the interrupt with a routine you
could write, finally returning to the program when finished.
Unfortunately, the error is in ROM and nothing short of burning
a new ROM on an EPROM will permanently correct it. Unless...

Unless you are NOT in the home bank. If you are in the dock
bank with an LROS program, your technical manual states that you
MUST urite both a MI and NMI routine to handle interrupts at the
addresses given above. If you are lucky enough to have an АЕРСО
disk drive, you have 64K of the RAM in the dock bank at all
times. Every time you use the disk drives you run the routines
put there by the AERCO interface ROM. It, thus, would be

DATA 21 EKXKPANS roa

possible to correct the NMI handling routine since the AERC
program first starts at address 256° with only the LROE
identification, the MI, and NMI routines below address 256.
There is only one problem with this and that is that the
computer does not run BASIC programs from the dock bank, but
from the home bank, so it spends mest of its time іп the home
bank and would use the home bank ROM NMI interrupt, with ite
error, most of the time. You are reall, lucky with the БР/У
version of the AERCO disk drive, as it is loaded and rur
exclusively from the dock bank. ОҒ course, the present AERCO NMI
routine would have to be rewritten tc handle an automatic jump
to an NMI handler routine.

Why use the NMI? Certain peripheral devices. notably the
keyboard, can give an NMI to the CPU indicating that they are in
need of attention. Most computers use the NMI to indicate input
coming from the keyboard. As you saw above, Sinclair computers
use the MI to scan the keyboard. not the ММ1, bur that із no
reason to disable the NMI. Other devices such as a printer or a
modem could be made to give an NMI when the» need attention as
well.

For example, most printers have a 2K to 8K buffer which is
loaded and then printed out. When empty, it is reloaded with the
next batch, etc. All the time that the printer is emptying the
buffer it is sending a signal saying 'I'm busy, don’t send more
yet." The way it stands at present, the driver program monitors
this signal in а wait loop and is really wasting time. Instead
the 'busy' signal could be put on the NMI line thus freeing the
CPU to do something eise and return for another buffer reload
only when needed.

Or for another example. Your modem is monitoring the phone
for calls. Nothing might happen for hours, but uhen it does the
modem needs attention immediately. Or yet another, your computer
is set up to play watchdog for your house, yet you would like to
do an iterative program that takes hours to run overnight and
haue the ansuer in the morning. You could do both with а working
NMI. Sinclair had the right idea with the NMI routine address at
23728. This routine uith the same error is also in Spectrom ROM.
ЫҺу did they chicken out?

RRR KEK HER KRENEK ALES AKER RAMEN ERNE

NEW ITEMS

WEYMIL CORPORATION, BOX 5904, BELLINGHAM, WA $8227-5904, has
some very interesting and innovative products for the 1000 and
2068.

THRUST TS1000

True hi-res graphics for the TS 1000. Thrust із Жоо great
programs on one tape. Sinc-Artist 1.3 is the most user friendly
software ever developed for printer graphics. Completely cursor
and menu driven. For Hunter Board users, there's Sinc-Artist HR
which produces fantastic screen graphics. THRUST із both the
most sophisticated and easiest to use hi-res graphics software
ever developed for the TS 1000.-$20.00

DATA

ho
H3

EXPANSION

RIGTER JOYSTICK INTERFACE TS 1000

This із a software programmable Atari-type joystick interface.
It can handle up to 16 different directions or commands easily.
It has it’s oun self-contained memory so that it’s software
occupies no system RAM. The software allows you to configure
your joystick to ANY TS 1000 game or graphic softuare (THRUST,
for example) and it’s ready to go. Rear expansion bus allows
other peripherals and the interface is completely
transparent.-$32.95

KRUNCHER TS 2068/TS 1000

From the Pacific Northwest comes one of the most exciting
utilities ever written. KRUNCHER takes any BASIC program for the
2068 or 1000 and instantly reduces it to the tightest BASIC
possible thereby conserving precious memory. Imagine all of
these little memory saving tips developed over the years in one
program which performs automatically and takes up less than 190
bytes! Simply load KRUNCHER, locate it where you want it, load
or write your BASIC program, invoke KRUNCHER, blink your eye and
it’s done. Memory savings average 20-40%.--$10.00 (Specify 1000
or 2068)

CLONE TS 2068

A sophisticated program which allows the user to make back-up
copies of ANY TS 2068 or SPECTRUM software for their oun use.
Requires no fancy filters or extra tape recorders. Easy to
follow instruction make it simple to protect your valuable
originals.-$10.00

PIXEL SKETCH AND GRAPHICS EDITOR V2.0 TS 2068

This program Бу Stan Lemke still remains the finest graphics
program produced in the US and one of the best in the world for
the TS 2068. It has had excelient user group reviews and is a
snap to use. Well written, set-by-step documentation guides you
effortlessiy from loading to producing your oun
'masterpiece.'-$19.95

ZEBRA SYSTEMS, INC., 78-06 Jamaica Ave., Woodhaven, NY 11421 nou
has trackballs for the 1000 and the 2068. Тһе WICO trackballs
were originally for the ТІ 99/4А (2068) and Apple ГІ
(1000,1500,2068, оғ zX81)

752068 TRACKBALL

You can benefit from the recent purchase of brand пеш WICO
Trackball controllers at closeout prices. The phoenolic ball
offers 360-degree movement. Two optical encoders provide
split-second movement. Quick action fire button for smooth, two
handed arcade response and feel. A very simple modification was
made to make it fully compatible with the 2068 joystick port,
but that voided the UICO warranty. Zebra gives a 15-day money
back guarantee and a one-year limited warranty .-$19.95

0;

DATA 23 EXPANSION

Ж ХХХ ХХХ Ж ХУ ХХХ ERE Ж > EEA AKL ОЕ
BBS PROGRAMS

I am very proud to announce that the dounload Section on
the FUKUG MBBS & PSDE for the Timex/Sinclair computers nou has
41 programs for downloading via XMODEM protocol. (Cine of the 41
is called WHATSFOR.TS that gives you the information about the
programs on the directory. These are just some of them,
certainly not all. I suggest that you give this fine BBS a try
at 540-4183 С8/1/М1, you will not be sorry that you did.

AUTODIAL.TS

This is for the 752068, 2050 modem, and MTERM-iI. This is a
different method for auto-dialing that should allou you to
continue to re-dial a number. The program should be checked over
as there is one line number that should be changed. This should
be saved as the new header for the MTERM program. It will
automatically LOAD and jump to the beginning of the program like
RAND USR 54016 would.

BANNER.TS

This is for the TS2068 and the 2040 printer. This is a BANNER
program that allows you to choose the size and width of the
letters to be used on the banner. With some changes. may be-
possible to load and run printer driver for an 80 column.

BOUNCE.TS

This is for the TS2068. This 15 a game to see what patterns
can be seen when specifying the number of 'bounces" the ball
will take. It is not too bad for simple "turtle" graphics.

BREAKOUT.TS

This is a game for the 1752068. This is the standard
'demolition' type game where vou plan the trajectory of the ball
to be released trying to 'breakout' cf the wall that is
enclosing you. It is simple to operate and uses the cursor keys.
Check listing to be sure.

CASSDIR.TS
This is for the TS2068 using cassettes. It is a directory
type file similar to that of a disk drive. I wil! be necessary

to study it first before you use it. It is possible to add more
Programs to a tape and lengthen the file.

CODEMOVE.TS

This is for the TS2068. This program vill let you load in M/C
and move it to another location. It would be best to make sure
that апу JP's that you make зге relative and not absolute.
Therefore, the code can be located anywhere vou wish.

DATACREA.TS

This is for the TS2068. It is run and used with the
DATALOAD.TS and any MC program vou may have written. It will
take the code and make it into DATA statements Starting at 9998
and working backuards until it is complete. Then editing, saving
and debugging is rather simple. It changes the code into HEX

DATA 24 EXPANSION

DATA statements.

DATALOAD.TS

This is for the 152068. This is the DATALOADer for
DATACREA.TS. You will load the saved 'code' from the
DATACREA.TS, then load the MC ansuering the question about uhere
it goes, hou long it is and such. It will then create the "НЕХ"
DATA statements for you to check over.

DISASSY.TS

This is for the TS2068. This is a BASIC disassembler program.
DO NOT RUN the program! You need to see the listing first. This
will give you all the instructions that you need to run this
program. Remember not to SAVE this program with ап AUTOSTART
LINE or it will crash.

FUDGE.TS

This is for the 752068 and a joystick used in the left port.
FUDGE stands for Friendly U)ser О)еҒіпеа G)raphics E)ditor. It
uses pull- doun menus and the cursor is moued around the screen
in a mouse-like manner by the joystick. The ‘fire* button is
used to select your choice. The screen looks very similar to
that of an APPLE 2ГЕ or Mac. This is an exceptional program, the
best I have ever seen produced.

GRAPHICS.TS

This is a USR GRAPHICS program that utilizes the TS 2068 and
a joystick in the left port. This will allow you to make and
save to tape the User Defined Graphics (UDG) for those special
games that you want to program. The only real instructions are
those for the joy stick. The fire button places your square.
Instructions are included.

MAILLIST.TS

This is for the T92068 and the 05-64 cartridge. It is easily
modified to be used without the (05-64 cartridge. All
instructions are included in the program. The program is simple
enough to improve and enlarge the mailing list capabilities with
very little effort.

MENUGRAD. TS

This is for the 152068 and the 2040 printer. This is а very
simple grade keeping system for any teacher. You can also get ә
printout for your students or for yourself. А11 information is
included in the program.

MORTGAGE.TS

This is for the TS2068. This vill give you the calculations
for your mortgage. Just set in the three variables and the 4th
will be provided for you. If you enter а "=", an amortization
table will be provided for you.

MT-AERCO.TS

This is used for the TS2068, 2050 modem, and MTERM-II. This
patch will allow the user to use the AERCO CPI and an 80 column
printer uhile on line. The patch is run and the code із saved
along with the MTERM-II Code. The word PRINT will tell you when

Put